School takes focus off 'Beer Grandma'

GRAND FORKS, N.D., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A University of North Dakota hockey fan who became known as the Beer Grandma said she doesn't mind stepping down as unofficial team mascot.

Beth Delano, 85, who was featured in commercials for UND after she gained fame in 2009 when the Fighting Sioux Sports Network photographed her with a beer in her hand at Ralph Engelstad Arena, said university officials told her they would no longer be using her for promotions, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald reported Tuesday.

University President Robert Kelley decided to end the Beer Grandma campaign and focus on other fans after recent national rankings revealed the school has a high rate of student drinking, spokesman Peter Johnson said.

"That was simply a matter of they have so much on their plate about the Sioux name and the beer drinking and they're working hard to get a new conference together," she said. "President Kelley thought that I had done enough advertising for them."